Proud Denver Parents Describe Son's Coast Guard Rescue
MORRO BAY, Calif. (CBS4) - A Coast Guardsman from Colorado came to the rescue when a plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
A father and son were flying from Southern California up north for an annual fishing trip earlier this week when their Cessna floatplane had engine trouble and crashed.
A rescue swimmer in eight foot high ocean swells had to help hoist the father and son into a hovering helicopter, and the plane sank just moments after the rescue. The passengers of the plane were cold but uninjured.
Coast Guard Lt. Marshall Burtt, a Denver native, was the co-pilot of the helicopter.
Burtt, 28, shared a description of his day with his parents like it was all in a days work.
"He just sent this little text to Doug (his father) that said 'Saved four lives today. Good day for the Coast Guard,' " his mother Christine Burtt told CBS4 at her Denver home.
His proud parents Christine and Doug are now both beaming and breathing a sigh of relief.
"I said 'Did you feel panicked?' and he said 'I didn't act panicked but I was really paying attention,' " Christine said.
Marshall set his sights on being a pilot two decades ago. His late uncle Peter Peelgrane, who survived a crash in Horsetooth Reservoir, flew television news helicopters.
"He was inspired partially by his uncle Peter Peelgrane, and so he and we are painfully aware that there are safer things to do," Doug said.
